Date My Avatar
by Lacrymosa-Nightmare
Summary: Edward's a full blown gamer and all he wants to do is have fun with his guildies. But when a notorious player called Pyrolysis comes into the picture, it turns both Ed's in-game and real world life upside down. EdxRoy Rating might change.
1. Ignited Rage

**Date my Avatar**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own FMA, its creator's, writers artists, plots nor the series The Guild or the song (Do You Want to Date My) Avatar, which is based off of said series. (They were merely an influence as I'm not drawing anything really from the series/song except well probably the song rofl) This is what happens when a plot bunny attacks you when you barely get on your feet again trying not to miss type or throw a clothes pin at a person jabbering on a faction Ventrillo channel .

For all you gamers, you can relate to The Guild series perhaps and any gaming references. But at any rate, I'm going to always take the assumption that there isn't a lot of hard core gamers so a handy footnote section will be there for you.

All locals and their affiliated trademarks are not mine to own (so hahaha take that lawyers )

**Warnings: **Yaoi (male x male love, if it bothers you, press the back button), some gaming references that could get confusing to non-gamers or those who don't traverse MMO's much.

I am also taking small liberties with the song so bear with me. They were necessary to fit the story.

_Do you want to date my Avatar?_

_He's a star, and he's hotter than reality by far_

_Wanna date my avatar…?_

**Log 1:** Ignited Rage

"ARGHH I got killed again!"

A furious raving braided blond slammed his fist into the desk forming a splintered crack though the glossed surface. The boy swore and he realized a bit too late that he was in the local Barnes & Nobles Starbucks café using their Wifi. And he was supposed to be quiet. A lot quieter.

Whoops.

"Sir I'm going to have to ask you to leave." The manager was white faced with rage and he hissed in that certain way that produced the most spit flying in the disgruntled teen's face. There wasn't much to say when half your face was speckled with a middle adged woman's saliva. Snorting in disgust, the perpetrator swept up his laptop charger and headset and winced when she yelled after his hasty exit.

"And that'll be about fifty bucks, sir, for breaking this table if you dare to show your face ever again!"

Well so much for Barnes and Nobles being gamer friendly.

It was only the fifth Wifi capable place he had gotten thrown out of that whole week. It wasn't that bad. Sighing, the short teen sat down outside on a bench, trying in vain to keep all the cords form falling off his lap. When did he, the MMO addict Edward Elric, know when to control his temper?

Never, really.

So while his net was down at his house he was reduced to a hasty lump of red and gold rambling around town to try and find the one place where his arms wouldn't break tables when he accidently slammed into them or where the nudge of his foot wouldn't send a row of tables flying. Annoying though, when an arm and a leg contained a bit more strength than normal being completely made of shiny metal that sent metal detectors into frenzy. At least it was a twist of irony that he shared the same problem as his beloved laptop-any kinds of magnets around it and he was pretty much screwed. Elric sighed, pushing his golden bangs out of his face. He looked longingly to the Starbucks portion of the store, mouth watering. Maybe if he had just bought a frappachino, they would have been more lenient. Too late for that now.

"If it wasn't for that brazen headed faction officer deciding to start a PK fest(1) outside of the safe zone(2) we would have been fine…" the boy dangled his legs over the bench, annoyed that his feet couldn't quite reach the ground. He scooted on the edge to make his feet feel planted. His expression clouded. The faction he was in was going to farm a dungeon tonight and he needed to be on in less than an hour. It was double drops and he wasn't going to miss out on it. Urgh but if it wasn't for that cursed PKing bastard Pyrolysis, they would have already formed squads (3) by now…

Pyrolysis was notorious not just on the server but game wide-as many people who played it heard tales of the guy who wielded the legendary weapon Ignition Gloves. A snap and a player would go up in a flurry of fire spells. He was arrogant, egotistical and a general, all around ass hole-but for a, sadly, very good reason. His weapon was a one of a kind weapon and that alone bred a lot of contempt as he could almost one shot everyone around him.

And that bastard with his Ignition crap on had one shotted Ed's warrior as he was heading out of town (4). Pyro's current amusement apparently was jumping his guildies and keeping them from participating in a server wide summer festival event.

Resentful, he propped his laptop open. Well if he couldn't stay out of the summer heat inside the café he might as well tap the net from outside the café…

_I'll get you back for this Pyrodushe_…Teeth grinding, he logged back on while he opened Ventrillo by voice command. He was too lazy today to rick click it to run the program as administrator-the only way it ran on Vista, but luckily he had 7. (5)

"Sorry about that guys." The blond grumbled, shifting uncomfortably on the stone bench. The manager was glaring at him suspiciously form inside the café. The connection was definitely much weaker out here than there but he didn't really care.

"Heeey welcome back Full."

"Heya Fullmetal-still having that net problem eh?"

"You're having some vent lag FM, but what can you say about Wifi-"

"Oh_ god_ Pyro killed me again guys…."

Ed groaned half in relief that his fac mates weren't pissed off but half annoyed when he heard Alphonse Elric, his younger brother's voice float through his headset. Al was at a friend's house who luckily had almost college or university net speed which Ed ached to use. But for now all he could do was frown darkly as all whimpered his latest death against the Spellcaster.

"WTF is his problem?" the older Elric hissed, typing in guild chat. A clump of fellow guildmates were standing in one of the main cities of the game eying Pyrolysis's movements warily.

"Look, I have no idea-" Winry Rockbell, another real life friend of the brothers growled. She had barely begun playing, but was slightly chilling to Edward how well she picked up being a Rouge. Maybe it was just her natural tendencies-" But Py needs to gtfo or I'm going to tear him a new one with these daggers I just got…"

"He's uber leet hax." A player they didn't know who went by the name_ Vidicus_ half snorted into her mic. "No point ."

"Unless we gank him." The blond was twirling his braid around one finger idly making his avatar run around the city's main cross road and jump on top of roofs. He watched in dim amusement as his character leapt on top of an NPC (6), long braided ponytail wiggling behind. Ed didn't approve of ganking but…with this guy he could make the exception. A whole other uproar came at these words and Edward closed his eyes, starting to feel faint from heat. The manager was pursing her mouth now and she disappeared from the window. "Look-guys-guys! I know he has that attack that wipes everything in nearly one hit around him, but it can't be that bad. We've gotta pull together, put this cash shopping noob in his place where he belongs!" There was a small grumble of agreement here. It was obvious that Pyro dumped a lot of money, up in the five to ten grand range. _Which is just a stupid amount to spend on anything even this game I am so addicted to…_The manager threw the door's open and began to stalk out. "He doesn't have the right to camp us harass us and push us out! I'd never let anyone push me around like that-!"

"Unless it involves the cops." Edward paled, catching a glimpse of who it was behind him from his laptop screen.

"Uhhhh-oaky guys, nice chatting need to find a new source of net bai!"

Al laughed at his brother's hasty log-off from Vent.

_Looks like he got in trouble yet again…_

"Winry, tell me again _why_ he's not allowed over here?" When the brothers we looking for net they had both dumped themselves onto her doorstep. Her response to Al and Ed were polar opposites-she had welcomed Al with a smile while giving Ed the death glare slamming the door in his face. That was however, not before she threw a metal cup that had been full of soda all over him.

"What the hell?" The shorter Elric had stomped and raged outside the girl's house for five minutes before resigning it as a lost cause and raging off the porch, being sure to kick a lawn animal with his regular foot.

Now Al and Winry were camped out in the basement which she had transformed into a gaming room.

"Well, first of all his temper," Rockbell began snippily, slamming her mouse as her character let out a dying moan. The younger Elric laughed inwardly, speaking of tempers… "Pyro got me again!-Anyways," there was a few fast clicks and the tapping of keys to use some skills. Her eyes darted back and forth rapidly "his temper is an issue to say the least. I don't want him breaking anything like he did last time. There's a reason why I'm using this ratty sixty dollar headset now rather than my sound reduction one that was nearly a hundred bucks-oh shit, oh shit gaaaaa!" She hit the ctrl button "Guys I'm downed again-at this rate we won't be able to even get to the next area without teleporting in."

"Rockabella, more than half the guild doesn't have the tele into that area." Vindicus, their guild leader, spoke in a strained voice. "They have to had been there before they can get in that way or otherwise we would have already. I know a lot of our high level players have that unlocked, but right now Pyro's killing both our high and low levels. We'll need to use FullMetal as a distraction-"

At this there was a burst of laughter on Vent. Everyone had noticed how many times Pyrolysis targeted FullMetal whenever he walked a few steps out the city gates.

"As long as he's paying attention he can dance outside of the guys range and annoy him with long range skills. When he gets back on, we'll need him to bait Pyro while those who need to get to the dungeon rush out of there on your fastest means possible whether by air or ground mount."

"So we're using FM as a meat shield." Al chuckled into the mic. It wasn't a question.

"Essentially." It wasn't hard to miss the smile in their leader's voice.

"I'm sure he'll love the news when he gets back on-oh looky who's on." The younger Elric brother snorted as the notification popped up to the side of his screen. "Hey bro." Al greeted him as Edard popped back into Vent. "Where'd you get net this time?"

"…Burger King."

Al and Winry nearly fell out of their chairs laughing. Burger King did have Wifi but neither one of them dared to try it. But they both shared a troubled glance, their laughter dyig slightly. If he lagged died trying to taunt Pyro there would be a half faction wipe…

"How's lag FullMetal?" Was the first thing that came from Vindicus.

Edward wrinkled his nose. He didn't really like the smell inside this particular Burger King but this was the last place he knew of in town that had free Wifi. The blond tapped his toe on the floor in annoyance.

"Can't tell yet Riza." Everyone in the guild either knew her as Vind or Riza. No one knew her last name and not very many people dared to call her by her first name, Riza. "Okay here we go-not much actually."

"That's cause you're there on a good day where not too many people are on." Winry simpered, typing a request for a res in guild chat. "Any more than five people on at the same time over there and I heard that you lag like a-"

"Anyways," Ed cut in annoyed, praying that that amount of people would waltz though the doors carrying laptops. "I can't get in range of a power source, so I've got about four hours on battery life. What are we gonna do?"

"We're gonna use you for a meatshield. Against Pyro." Winry snapped.

A beat of silence.

"W-What?" Already he was getting the confused startled looks form customers. Forcing himself to lower his voice he spoke again. "You're using me as a _meatshield_? Wouldn't a robe wearer do better against him?"

"You have the most HP (7) of pretty much all the higher leveled players in the guild."

Ed went silent. He couldn't argue with the leader on that.

"He one shotted me though when I walked outside about five minutes ago." He recalled suddenly.

"He had all buffs(8) on that's why." Al replied, munching on some chips Winry had went afk for to bring back to him. He loved how comfy the bean bags in her basement were. "They all fell off of him already."

"Well, everyone with maxed buffs please squad with Fullmetal."Vindicus ordered. Ed groaned. He couldn't believe they were actually going to make him be the sacrificial pixel lamb. Once that was done, they desquaded and everyone's characters who needed to leave were running around him nervously. Ed scanned his screen, turning the camera to search for where Pyro was.

_There he is._

He was perched atop a roof, barely concealed by a tree.

"Bastard…" He hissed under his breath as Pyro jumped up and mounted a three headed dragon in mid air.

"Alright everyone who needs Midnight Rift, listen carefully," He bent closer, dropping his voice to a lower murmur as if he was afraid Pyro himself could hear him. "When I run out again and Pyro chases me, I need to make sure you all are on mounts. Don't play heroics-no heals, no stuns, no AOE. Just book it. If I die, I die-someone can come give me a res later on who can teleport in." _My poor exp…_ Edward clenched his teeth, brow furrowed in concentration. His hand tensed over the USB mouse.

"Ready?...Go!"

"Go go go go go!"

"Weeeeeewwwt!"

Edward blazed out the gate with forty players in tow. Behind his character he caught the flash of fire and Edward winced as his HP took a huge dent. He could almost feel the bastard smirking behind the character.

_Dammit…_

He kitted the blast, jumping in the air and turning his char to face Pyro's.

"Get out before he decides to snap an AOE." Ed danced out of Pyro's reach and he could tell the Spellcaster was getting highly annoyed. He tapped his hotkeys for potions. He had never been too close to get a good look at the guy but now that he had been standing and not face fist dead in the ground he was a bit surprised. Most people made their in-game avatars either with outlandish unnatural appearances or flawless beauty.

But Pyrolysis had done neither.

He had grabbed a full Magicide Commander fashion set dyed in a deep disturbing red, black trimmed and all. The army commander look was consistent right up to the pale long face with jet black medium short hair and deep inky black eyes. On his hands his Ignition Gloves were glowing vividly with a black and red aura, the signature aura that made players flee.

More than half the guild had vacated the area and was well on their way to Midnight Rift. Edward was relieved. A sudden massive column of fire around him mad Ed swear. Leaping away with less than one hundred HP on his over fifteen thousand health bar, Ed potted again rushing past five guild stragglers.

"C'mon guys hurry up he's probably getting a bit pissy now."

Right when the last few people had darted inside Edward was floored by a high leveled skill and Ed still couldn't help but grumble a colorful string of addictives as Pyro swept above his dead body on his dragon.

"Did everyone get in?" The teen grumbled. The death would have been for nothing otherwise. There was collective spam of yes in faction chat and Edward slumped back, slightly relieved.

**Pyrolysis: Well, you lasted for a while that time-at least you have some kind of skill…**

The teen felt a new wave of anger tempt him. How dare he…in common chat too of all things. Fingers flew over the keyboard.

**FullMetal: Guess your money doesn't make you as pro as you thought.**

There wasn't a response to this and as Edward let his character lay there for a few seconds, wondering if that finally shut the guy up but the flash of a red lined private message made him gurgle and nearly fall off his seat in shock.

_**Pyrolysis: You have a pretty hot char-for a guy ;)**_

"This is going to be _fun_." A man whispered, a smirk crossing his lip. Hot coal eyes narrowed as he crossed his legs leisurely. "_Really_ fun…"

_Do you want to date my Avatar?_

_He's a star, and he's hotter than reality by far_

_Wanna date my avatar…?_

Yay footnotes galore-if you need it great if you don't you can ignore it. R & R, tell me what you think.

(1)PK-Player Killer. Usually in Player vs Player situations anyone who comes up by surprise and kills someone, they are considered PKers. Most games have penalties against surprise attacks.

(2)safe zone-an area you can't get killed in.

(3)squads/parties- a group of players usually done for harder areas that require more than one person because of various reasons-difficulty, amount of monsters etc.

(4)towns and cities are the most common safe zones marked out on an MMO.

(5) most gamers know the problem regarding Vista-for some reason in most cases(if not all) you have to right click and run Ventrillo as "run as administrator" to speak in-game. Otherwise, you have to "tab out" or minimize the game to speak which is of course, not highly recommended

(6)NPC-Non-Playable Character. NPC's server a very important role in MMO's from giving quests, letting you buy and sell stuff or allowing you entrance into certain area/teleporting you to other areas.

(7)Hit Points-Ed's class is surprisingly a tanking class, so his health growth is much higher than all the other classes in the game.

(8) Buffs are added effects that give added bonus to players. In various games, buffs take on many forms and bonuses but all buffs cast to party members are usually beneficial. Negative buffs are usually called "debuffs" and when buffs are taken form a player they can also be called "debuffed"

The Magicide Commander set is basically Roy Mustang's outfit in FMA with black trim.

A note on MMO types-there's **Pay-To-Play** which is games like World of Warcraft and then there's** Free-To-Play** games like Perfect World and Maple Story. Free games normally rely on a cash flow to keep the game up, so they always have some sort of cash shop in-game to buy items with real money. (which is always optional)

Anyways probably not in a very big vein of "liked" story genre/content but trust me you'll come to like it even if you're not a big gamer in general (I hope)


	2. Taunt Without a Spine

**Date my Avatar**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own FMA, its creator's, writers artists, plots nor the series The Guild or the song (Do You Want to Date My) Avatar, which is based off of said series. (They were merely an influence as I'm not drawing anything really from the series/song except well probably the song rofl) This is what happens when a plot bunny attacks you when you barely get on your feet again.

For all you gamers, you can relate to The Guild series perhaps and any gaming references. But at any rate, I'm going to always take the assumption that there isn't a lot of hard core gamers so a handy footnote section will be there for you.

All locals and their affiliated trademarks are not mine to own (so hahaha take that lawyers )

**Warnings: **Yaoi (male x male love, if it bothers you, press the back button), some gaming references that could get confusing to non-gamers or those who don't traverse MMO's much.

I am also taking small liberties with the song so bear with me. They were necessary to fit the story.

This story just won't leave me alone so I'll continue it.

(((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((

_You'll never see my actual face,_

_Our love, our love will be in virtual space…_

(((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((

**Log 2: **Taunt Without a Spine

Edward was half tempted to blacklist Pyro after that but he was too lazy to do so.

He still couldn't believe that whisper-so shocked was he that he didn't even bother to screen shot it. Numbed, he went through the motions in the dungeon and the guild made extreme bank from a ton of rare drops. A lot of his guild mates were concerned about his silence, but they figured he was either in trouble again for shooting off his mouth or he was extremely pissed that he got killed right before he was able to get in. So they let him be. Ed got a whisper from Al and Winry after the runs to drop down a channel and when Al and Winry asked constantly why he was so shaken, he didn't have anything to back up his claim. Not like he really was going to tell them what happened…

"Pyro hit on me."

Okay maybe just not the details.

"He did _what_?"

Al was less calm in retrospect than Ed was. Winry gagged on something and he heard coughing in the background as Al continued.

"That's not what I would expect-just-do you have proof?" And Al heard his brother groan. Nope.

"You dork!" Winry had managed to settle back onto her beanbag chair. "How else are we supposed to do anything? You heard Vind-no proof, no reason to pursue it."

"Well Winry-" Ed spat back. "If it wasn't for _you_ who decided to call out a PK fest, none of this would have happened!" Winry made a strangled wordless cry and Al had to hold her back form smashing her screen in. _Talk about tempers, hers is almost as bad…_but of course, Al would never tell her that.

"W-winry get-down!" Al grunted dragging her back and she struggled in his arms for three minutes until she forced a calm composure and retied her straggled, wispy ponytail. His brother did have a point though, he relented, as Ed and Winry got into a heated vent argument with Ed half rasping as if he had a hard time keeping his voice down. Pyrolysis only showed up killing people if there was a PK call-out. Otherwise he randomly targeted people.

_Though I do wonder why he was only interested in going after Ed…_

If it wasn't looks then Al didn't know what it was. After all, Pyro never seemed to be anything much better than a PK happy ass hole to the majority of the gaming populace and he had a few close nit of people who were nearly as bad as him. If he wasn't alone, he was going around with his buddies ganking (1) everyone in sight.

"Anyways, it's getting kind of late guys…" Ed muttered distracted and in the background Al heard an intercom announcement that Burger King would be closing in ten minutes. Both Al and Winry glanced at the clock. It was nearly eleven. "I'm gonna head home and pray the net is gonna come back on tomorrow otherwise I have to camp myself at Burger King again…" And Edward did not sound very amused by the idea. "Plus my batteries good as fried."

"Alright." The other two said in unison. "See ya."

Edward popped back up into the general channel wished everyone a goodnight and logged off both Ventrillo and the game. As he was packing up his laptop he couldn't help but be bothered by that whisper.

_**Pyrolysis: You have a pretty hot char-for a guy ;)**_

It was unsettling but it still brought a rather faint blush to his cheeks. Edward felt a pair of eyes on him. Ed cast a quick glace to a group of girls who saw the blush on his face and they giggled. Annoyed, he tried to make it go away as he zipped up his bag.

"He was playing a game and yelling into a mic."

"So cute too-adorable and fun-sized-"

His blush had turned to one of anger. He whirled around, making the girls spew into laughter as his braid made a graceful arc.

"Did you call me _short_?"

The seething rage in his retort only made them laugh harder. The walked out of Burger King babbling about how "short fused" he was and that "guys smashing monsters three times their size is hot."

_Creepy…_

(((((((((((

Edward sat grumpily at home. It was one in the morning and he wanted to get online. Al was laying on the couch texting to someone while listening to an Ipod. He had tried to ignore the fact that his younger brother was smiling and chuckling at his phone while bopping his head silently. And Ed was getting sick of trying to run maintenance on his computer, deleting old funny pictures he didn't find funny anymore and fiddling with his system settings. He glanced around aimlessly, lost in thought and wondering vaguely what he'd do the next time he got back online.

He was told many times that being online for so many hours was a bit unhealthy by a lot of people but he didn't really care. The only people who he cared to interact with outside the game were Al, his parents and Winry (when she wasn't hell bent on nailing him with metal cups). Everyone else around him was so…dull. Boring. Uncolorful. They all had the same looks, the same laughs the same outfits. Even the ass holes were all cookie cutter shaped and predictable. He played to get away from the monotony and in the game he had something. He had people he liked and people he loathed, but at least they stretched the spectrum to both ends. And then there were people like Pyro who were on a whole another level…

"You look like you're about ready to tear someone's guts open." The older Elric snapped out of his musings as his younger brother clicked away on his phone. Ed smiled faintly. "Is Pyro still bugging you?"

"Yeah a bit…"

_**Pyrolysis: You have a pretty hot char-for a guy ;)**_

"Like really who says that shit to someone, god!" Edward tugged at the roots of his bangs and Al smiled sympathetically.

"Brother, language…"

"Sorry." Al didn't mind it when it was other people on vent, but for some reason even now certain words flying out Edward's mouth made him wince inwardly._ It came with the territory and the personality I guess…_

"Huh, this is interesting." The random comment tore the younger Elric from his text fest with Winry. He scuttled over to the edge of the couch and looked over Ed's shoulder as he was hovering over available wireless networks around the house. He'd always seen the list of them whenever he rebooted, but this time out of sheer boredom, he actually looked down the list and saw two networks with strong signals from them.

"Ed, they're password protected too." Al raised an eyebrow, wondering what kind of interest Ed could possibly take in them. "Like our network."

"Yeah I know but…" he clicked on one and the prompt came up. "I just…I want to try something. Just for shits and giggles-sorry Al," He visibly saw the wince that Al couldn't quite catch in time to hold back. "I'm gonna try the network name with no caps as the password and see if it works-"

"Ed no one's _that_ dumb," And as he peered closer at the network name he laughed. "And if I'm not mistaken that's not a neighbor's it's a business network. I'm sure they would-hey Ed what are you-?"

Ed had an odd feeling it would work. _Connecting…_

"I'm in!"

Al fell off the couch, dropping his phone and Ipod in the process. He yelped and they heard a faint shout of "keep it down!" from upstairs. Both boys twitched and glanced at each other. Never a good idea to wake the dragon upstairs called their mom…

"I guess someone _is_ that dumb." Al stared as the game ran smoothly with no start up lag. Edward was positively wriggling on the floor in ecstatic victory. "Hahaha and it's faster than what we've got right now." The teen was glorying at the lagless cast of all his skills and buffs. He maxed all graphic settings and was delighted as the game speed didn't falter. Al felt a twinge of guilt. "Ed, isn't it a bit…I dunno…messed up that we're using someone else's net for gaming? Especially net we're not paying for?" His younger brother facepalmed as Edward was babbling how awesome the game looked and moved with really good net. "Look, Al, we're only using it for a bit. It's an emergency right now-we won't use it anymore when we get our own back." Ed reassured Al, eyes glued to the screen, but deep down he knew he probably wasn't going to switch for a _long_ while. He heard Al make a disgruntled noise as he heard Al log on as well from his laptop. _He probably doesn't believe me but oh well…_

(((((((((((((((

Long fingers teased the key board in front of it, almost calculatingly. Its owner couldn't decide on what to do. The friends it typed to, spoke to were offline and there was boredom to be had as no one wandered too far outside the gates for now.

_Hmmm, FullMetal is on at this hour…What should I do to him later on when everyone can see…?_

A low chuckle escaped his lips.

_Of course…You'll hate me forever for making your gaming life embarrassing, but I find it so amusing_.

(((((((((((((((((

"Today we'll be distributing drops form yesterday's runs," Vind droned on, and everyone on Vent heard the rustling of paper. Ed and Al stole a glance at each other. With computers and all, their guild leader actually took the time to write all this stuff down? Insanity. "I need a hard-copy too in case my computer decides to crash." As if she was reading their thoughts she continued. Ed hardly paid attention as he mechanically went though picking what he needed. The thing that was arresting his attention was Pyrolysis and his gang of gaming hooligans. They were circling around a small group of Ed's fac mates which just so happened to include him, his brother and Winry as they were camped by the banker.

Unfortunately Edward had common chat turned on. And he wasn't too happy about what he saw.

**Pyrolysis: Well so this is where you hid out Metal. Cute.**

"Ed…" Al watched his screen warily reaching over to try and close Ed's laptop screen. He yanked his computer away and pecked back.

**FullMetal: I'm not hiding.**

**Pyrolysis: Awwww is Metalpoo getting…angry?**

**FullMetal: …excuse me? What did you just call me?**

**Pyrolysis: Metalpoo. Got a problem with that?**

Edward cursed, fist clenching. He wanted to smash his keyboard in frustration but he had barely enough control to not break the keys. Al grew worried. "Pyro's pushing FM's buttons."

"I can see that." Their leader sighed and there was a collective murmur on Vent. This was a record- Pyro had never stood to insult someone for longer than five minutes-but then again, no one was dumb to net spar with the guy. "We can't act just yet-"

"Like hell you can…" Ed hissed under his breath as he saw 3 laughing emotes pop up from three of his friends above their heads.

**FullMetal: Yeah, Pyro. I do**.

_Uh oh…_Al's eyes widened. _This isn't good…_

**Pyrolysis: And what do you think you're going to…do..about it? Hmm?**

**FullMetal: Less QQ more pew pew, bish. Bring. It. **(2)

"Edward Elric, you idiot!" Winry yelled at her screen, half sprawling out of her bean bag chair. She was too incensed to hit the cntrl button. In the Elric residence Al groaned. He hated PvP and with Pyro he never did play fair, especially when his friends were online. A lot of people were online watching the drama unfold and putting up their two cents on Global Chat (3) Vindicus wasn't sure whether this would bring down the guild's reputation or shoot it sky high so she warned everyone in faction to refrain from UCing at that particular moment.

_FullMetal, you'd better be able to back up some of your talk…_

**Pyrolysis: Then come and get me**

**Pyrolysis: I'll be laughing when you fall flat on your face, dead**

**Pyrolysis: and I get a nice view of your pixel ass :P**

"Bastard!" Edward screamed at the screen, face in a half turned snarl. His younger brother said nothing, a look of masked serious falling over his face.

"You aren't…gonna try and fight him one on one are you…?"

Ed glanced up at his brother's deceptively calm face. Does he…?

"You're a Cleric, Al. You're gonna get hurt really badly out there," Al protested as Ed held up a finger, grabbing a few pots before he headed outside the safe zone. "Look, Al, you don't have to worry. I don't want you dropping anything (4) important-"

"Me and Winry and a couple of fac mates can come! I won't let you get yourself hurt out there. Pyro's a…a…very very mean person," Ed almost wanted to laugh as Al struggled with not throwing a cuss word out. "Ed-!"

**Pyrolysis: Not backing your talk, Metalpoo? That's a shame…**

"Let's go." Ed gripped his mouse, rushing his character outside the safe zone with Al and Winry in tow, yelling "Ed if I drop my stuff form last night I'm going to kill you!"

**Pyrolysis: So you came after all.**

A flicker of flames licked around him. He mounted his three head dragon, buffing himself. His friends gathered around him as well atop rare mounts. Ed invited Winry and Al to squad as Al began his party buffs in the safe zone.

"Anyone else for PK versus Pyro PM FullMetal." Al announced in Vent as he took flight.

"You better not loose, FullMetal." The Rockbell girl hissed into her mic.

Ed charged in, duel axes swinging. Smashing his hot keys he groaned as he nearly got floored by a two way Sniper gank. He glanced quickly at the names-SnapShot and LightingUp. _Pyro's cronies…_

He saw a flash of light and saw Snap go down in three hits. Al flashed Ed a victory sign briefly.

"Told you brother, I can watch out for you-"

"Al, look out!"

"Waaaaaaa!" The tell tale soft death moan came from Al's computer and Ed saw something glittering under his body. Shit, he dropped something. And Pyro was the one who had snapped his spell and picked it up.

**Pyrolysis: thx kid : )**

"Noo that was my purple drop!" Ed felt a sharp pang of guilt. And there was Pyro within range, gloating about what he PK'd off his brother.

"Arrrghhhh!" Ed stunned Pyro and dropped his health nearly half. Pyro potted and tried to get away from Ed's wrathful axes, which were hot on his trail. He found his health dropping ridiculously fast and he wondered vaguely where it was coming form and suddenly it ceased. He heard the triumphant cry of Winry over the mic and secretly praised her.

"And _that's_ what you get for punking with a guild member."

"Invite me." Vindicus had been watching from afar in the safe zone and she had seen enough. Ed shot her a quick invite and her high level Sniper was added to the squad list. _It's not fair to these kids…so I'll give him fair warning to stop screwing with FullMetal…_

"Hey Vind," Winry welcomed, slightly tight lipped. She accidently hand her palm resting on the cntrl button and everyone in the channel could hear furious keystrokes. "Awwww dammit, LightingUp killed me."

"He's a fail Sniper." Riza shook her head. Not that Rockabella was a bad Rouge, but Lighting was an old friend of hers who just was too predictable… "Dead." Lighting threw up the virtual middle finger before going to town in common and Riza just laughed._ Jean you never learn do you…? Girls never gave you the right turn for your money…_

**Pyrolysis: Vind…?**

And Edward saw the PKer hesitate in mid air, pivoting to face her. Ed lost no time in flying straight for him.

**Pyrolysis: Why aren't you with us?**

**Pyrolysis : We miss you : (**

"Pay attention nab!" Edward grinned evilly as he smacked the Spellcaster for a nasty crit that left him with barely a sliver of health. Vindicus was already charging an attack when all of a sudden a whirling tornado of red hot flames licked her, Ed and Winry for one hit kills.

**Pyrolysis: Nice try, noobs**

**Pyrolysis: But we still miss you Vinddy : ( Come back and party with us.**

On the other side of the screen Riza fell silent at her guild's questions flooding though her headset.

_You know why I can't…please don't beg._

"Damn you Ed, I told you you couldn't let me die!" Her screech made Ed groan, rubbing his forehead.

**Pyrolysis: It was fun Metalpoo, had me scared for a second..**

**Pyrolysis: BTW, you look very attractive lying there on the ground like that.**

**Pyrolysis: Too bad you're still not good enough and fell a bit short of my expectations.**

"HE CALLED ME SHORT !"

And Al knew that the feud had turned into a full blow gamers war, a war he didn't know that he was going to be pulled into the middle of.

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(1) Ganking is usually when it's two to three on one player and kill him at the same time (i.e a 3 v 1). This kind of behavior is usually frowned upon but people do it anyways. Some people won't consider it an official gank unless it's upwards of three or more on one person.

(2) From what I've been told its saying more battle/more fighting less crying over loosing. Get up and fight and don't wine, according to someone whose played WoW. If the definition is off, drop me a review line.

(3) Chat where everyone can see what you put up. This is a universal chat that people sometimes use for buying, selling, trading or even sometimes drama/attention grabbing. Different games have different terms and abbreviations for this kind of chat.

(4) Some games have PK/PvP penalties, such as item loss, exp loss or in extreme cases permanent character death (no resurrection possible)

The breaks and shits in POV didn't show up when I uploaded so I apologize for that. Hope its neater this time lol.

BTW this whole "finding a business network and accidently getting the password" just happened to me a few hours ago. Never rule out your possibilities and it doesn't hurt to try, I guess –laughs-.

Again thank you all for the reviews-sorry if I hadn't responded to them adequately on other fics, but they mean a lot to me. R & R etc etc and see you next chapter.


	3. Gamer's Cafe

**Date my Avatar**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own FMA, its creator's, writers artists, plots nor the series The Guild or the song (Do You Want to Date My) Avatar, which is based off of said series. (They were merely an influence as I'm not drawing anything really from the series/song except well probably the song rofl) This is what happens when a plot bunny attacks you when you barely get on your feet again.

For all you gamers, you can relate to The Guild series perhaps and any gaming references. But at any rate, I'm going to always take the assumption that there isn't a lot of hard core gamers so a handy footnote section will be there for you.

All locals and their affiliated trademarks are not mine to own (so hahaha take that lawyers )

**Warnings: **Yaoi (male x male love, if it bothers you, press the back button), some gaming references that could get confusing to non-gamers or those who don't traverse MMO's much.

Thanks to everyone so far whose reviewed-keep the comments up and going. Lets me know what you like so far and don't like lol. BTW Word does epically fail and if it auto corrected something grammar wise I apologize for its fail. So I'll have to keep my eyes peeled and make sure it's not correcting something I don't mean it to :P

Sorry for the slightly slow update-had to eat ice cream to chase away the small case of writer's block. Hope it's not_ too_ obvious. I feel behind schedule already. –hits self-

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_Be anything you want me to be…_

_C'mon, C'mon share a potion with me…_

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**Log 3: **Gamer Café

_What did Pyro mean by all that towards Riza?_ Edward was surfing the net lost in thought. _"Come back, we miss you?" Did they know each other before she became leader of Alchemists? She wasn't hanging around him when the server started and I've been here for everything. She started Alchemists within the first week so that doesn't leave much room for squading…_

"Whatcha thinking about brother?" Edward yelped slightly as Al popped into view hanging upside down from the couch. It had been a week since they had tapped into the business's net and while Al was rather disapproving of it now, Ed still tapped it daily. Well, hey, it wasn't his fault they weren't smarter about it…

"Nothing much." The blond forced a smile. In fact he was thinking about a lot, his thoughts of new gear only coming second to the mystery revolving around how Pyro and Vind knew each other. It seemed as if wasn't just Ed who had something on his mind. Al looked slightly distant and made a small mewling noise-

_Wait a minute…_

"Al, are you hungry?" The innocent sounding question made Al turn a slight shade of pink as he heard another mewl smashed with a low grumbling sound.

"Um yeah! Yeah, I'm hungry why doncha make some uhhh," Al removed himself from hanging upside down and had started playing a random ring tone form his phone. The older brother raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "Al, why are you going though the generic ring tones….?" "No reason I'm just trying to get these-stupid-ring tones deleted." At this, Al squirmed and there was a strangled yowl. "And y-yeah I'm like super, super hungry brother, now go make something in the microwave."

Edward cast him another questioning, suspicious glace and he disappeared into the kitchen as Al dragged a rather flustered looking calico kitten from the cushions.

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Riza sighed, rubbing her forehead.

_He had to go and make this complicated didn't he?_

A knocking sound came from the speakers. Pyro was trying to get her attention in a chat box. She sat back down wearily and placed her skull headset in place. She ignored it and got a sadface whisper from him.

_That's just how it has to be, Pyro…_She grinded her teeth trying not to clench the mouse so tightly that she would break it. _This is a whole new server, a whole new start. What happened before-I didn't like what we were known as._

_**Pyrolysis: Riiiiiizzzzzzaaaaaa QQ**_

Deftly, she tabbed out pulled up vent and was just in time to hear FullMetal explaining a daily dungeon quest to the faction and why it was a good thing to do. _Besides…he's so much happier here with me to watch over him…I don't easily forget what you did to him on the last server. Is that why you find him of greater interest this time?_

"…And in the last few rooms, Clerics do their party heals while Snipers use their Rain of Arrows. Warriors will be up front debuffing the boss and as always with their Pierce-oh hey there Vind." Edward's serious tone turned slightly cheerful. He had barely noticed she had logged on. "I'm just going though the strategy for a faction run on this last boss. Do you have any recommendations before we start?"

"Huh?" Riza had to force her Leadership track to turn on. A few people muttered "You okay?" and she assured them quickly. "Yeah, sorry guys- yes, FullMetal is correct, and I'd like to add that our DD's (1) need to make sure to keep their mana (2) up with potions etc. I had to deal with a killer headache just now," All Pyro's fault. "Let's move."

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"You're ignoring me Riza…"

Inexplicably smoky eyes slid shut for a second.

"And we had so much _fun_ together in real life with everyone and in game with the boy who's running around as FullMetal.." The man tapped a pencil to an unknown beat impatiently. He had given up trying to PM her for now and was leisurely killing random noobs outside the city. "At least she and her little guild gave me a _challenge_…" He tapped his AOE (3) hotkey and watched with a yawn as he felled six players at once. "Geeez, don't these idiots know not to walk in that close of a range? Failures…" He glanced over to a portrait of himself, two men and a woman. They had been a close knit family of gamers-himself, Riza, Jean and Maes-who had all grown up in the same neighborhood. They owned the server they all played on recently and they were the most feared group of players…

_And then I met FullMetal, who was, at the time, MetaMail. Such a cute noobcake, the way FullMetal and MetaMail react to "short" can only mean they're one and the same…_

His brow twitched as he was attacked from all sides. Annoyed, he mounted his three headed dragon and sped back into the safe zone. _Gank failed…_He landed atop a roof and rested there. _But there can be no mistake-it was the same naïve shrimp I screwed around with. Gifting him stuff one minute then killing him and taking it back. Those were the good days. _

"Guess you got a conscious though, Riza. No fun." Black bangs swept into his eyes and he lowered his eyes form the screen, chuckling. "But we'll see each other, very, very soon. It'll be the old gang, just like old times…"

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"Oh hey, brother, look at this!"Week two, and Al had grudgingly dropped Ed's blatant abuse of the neighboring company's internet access and pretended fervently that his brother wasn't moving with less lag than him. But right now any worries of lag were wiped from Al's mind as he managed to get Ed's attention. Edward gave the paper jammed in his face a very cross look which melted instantly into one of keen interest. Golden eyes trailed away from the screen and were instantly absorbed into the newspaper. Al briefly took Ed's laptop to control his character in the field while Ed read-

_**All you gamers! Tired of mooching off of Wifi from book stores and cafes? Tired of your home net craping out during a boss run? Fear no more-the Gamer Café will be having its grand opening this Thursday-boasting net speeds faster than even most local business, it is one of its kind. With an LCD gaming new bulletin board, a gamer's bar (you'll see no alcohol here-perfect for all ages of gamers.) and no monthly subscription/membership fees (because you already have one from the games you play!) what's not to like? The Gamer's Café-"Where gaming demands top quality environments". For more information or job postings please call….**_

But the rest was forgotten in the joyful yelp that spilled from the elder Elric. This is what he had always never dared to hope for, a place for gamers just like him, like Al, like Winry to get together in a place where the net wasn't in a place where they had to be quiet.

_And it won't smell like burgers or someone's spilt milk…_Ed had never had a very good experience in Burger King's- on his first visit, someone had barfed up spoiled milk that they had drank just moments before. Now Ed couldn't stand the sight, thought or even mere mention of milk. Al was reading Ed's lost look of bliss on his face and took that moment of absent-mindedness to dig out the calico again and rush it to his room.

"I definitely gotta tell Winry and the faction about this. Maybe if their' some guildies in our area it would be pretty…I dunno, interesting to meet them. Huh, we might even be able to meet people outside our faction and maybe even get some recur-Al? Al?"

And Edward just barely noticed the now vacant spot on the couch.

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_I guess we have to get out of the house some time…_

"-But did you really have to make this look like a date where I'm the third wheel?" Al coughed, wincing slightly as a few onlookers stared. On the day of the opening, Ed, Al and Winry were heading over, laptops stashed away in bags. Al was standing a bit too close to Winry to be completely innocent looking and the way they talked half in whisper was making Ed rather cross.,

"Ed, don't be so short sighted," Winry began but didn't get the rest of the sentence out as, predictably, there was a flurry of raging blond on their hands. Finally, the girl, with a grimace, clamped her hand over Ed's mouth and had to bite back a cursed yep as he tried to bite on it.

"Edward knock it off we're here!" She hissed sorely wishing she wasn't accompanying the twerp with Al. Well Al had asked me and I wasn't going to just not go with Al but then of course, the two always come in a pair… "Look, now we're getting weird looks from that guy over there that looks like he might work inside, so shut it!" The man she was referring to quickly turned away but not before Ed caught the glimpse of vaguely amused glittering beetle-black eyes and short black hair. As per her reasoning, he, along with another person standing outside herding the now obviously growing line, was wearing matching uniforms. But all that was temporarily lost in his lividness_. What the-? That dude-he looked like he was laughing at me! _

"Stupid laughing bastard..." He swore as Al auto replied with "Brother,_ language_." A mother with two younger kids ahead of them gave a rather disapproving look at the fuming Elric. This day was already heading for the worst and all Ed wanted to do was just to get on, get gaming and then rant to the guild how stupidly insulting one of the staff was…"Sorry Al." The quick response made Al shake his head. Sometimes he wondered if his disapproval was even going though his older brother's skull anymore…

A few people back Riza was digging into her purse to pull out her Iphone, grumbling as she tapped the screen to post a tweet to all the guild members. She hated the too-short format of Twitter but it sure helped when you had very little to say. And with the new addition of abbreviations every day, it wasn't too hard to put up a "comprehensible" message. She had heard about the café form two people-Edward, who was positively gushing in Vent, and from none other than Pyro. From the later, she was rather suspicious. _So he still lives in town near me…?_ But no. She shook her head. It wasn't possible-it was _she_ who moved away from him and from the two other friends she cared for. But it was Pyro who drove her away the most. He tugged on one person in particular's trust and it was enough to make her walk away in disgust. _But he was never that much of an ass before…_the guild leader stashed her phone away, and nervously swept her medium bangs that had fallen into her eyes to the side.

_Well at any rate, FullMetal will be having a pleasant surprise today_, she thought in gentle amusement as a few places in front of her she heard the familiar voice of the tank going over a PvP strategy with a few people near him.

"…But I would have to be a higher level, brother." Al wined as the line kept crawling forward. There was only one person now manning the doors and Winry watched with amazement as the man was jovially trying to show a picture he had in his hands to the people trickling in. Ed wasn't noticing the rather comical employee and the Rockbell girl started tugging on his sleeve to try and get his attention. "Look, Al, it's not that hard just ten more levels and you'll be a very destructive force if you-"

But it was too late. Winry groaned slightly as they reached the doorway and Ed toppled over with a yelp. Al easily picked his disgruntled brother off the ground as Ed smoothed out his bangs and looked rather harried, to say the least. Before he could blow his top again a picture was waved in his face nearly centimeters away from his nose.

"Well, can't you agree she's positively adorable?" The three didn't know quite what to make of this rather sudden question and Winry stammered quickly as she pushed the two brothers past him. "Yes, yes very very cute , send me a copy though the mail sometime," which to her relief made the man very pleased.

Any sort of irritation in all three of them evaporated and they collectively dropped their jaws.

"This is heaven." Ed drooled.

There was the LCD promised in the add and on it not only was it flashing gaming news, but also server status for every game out including the highest ranked PKers, most popular guilds/factions, territory maps and even the achievement systems for every game if they had one. They also streamed announcements from each game's home page. The bar was put along one wall with an assortment of energy drinks, sodas, fountain drinks, smoothies and even had a mini branch of a Starbucks combined with it. "Ed stop drooling over the bar and come over here." Winry was the one yanked him now and Edward eeped faintly as he was pulled into another corner of the café, which boasted an assortment of bean bags around an enormous plasma screen television and rows of polished white tables trimmed with stainless steel and electric cord blue. Four powerstrips were already plugged in around the tables and Ed instantly went over and parked himself in one of the blue colored binary print stools. "Of course you would migrate there," Al chuckled as he followed suit and cracked open his laptop along with Ed. The two brothers were not disappointed and Ed had to grudgingly admit that the net was much, much better than the company mooching he was doing. "Now, brother, will you stop abusing the net there?" Al prompted raising an eyebrow and nudging him Edward stuck his tongue out faintly as he logged in and without looking at Al retorted, "As soon as you stop hiding that new kitten you picked up in your room."

While the two brothers got into a quietly heated debate over the kitten situation, a rather poised business looking woman sat down a stool away and pulled out her own computer. She deftly slipped on her skull head set on and, hitting the cntrl key, she teased "and next time, FullMetal you should pay a bit more attention when your guild leader sits near you."

Whirling, Edward gaped as he heard her voice echo both in vent and in real life next to him.

"Riza?"

Both Ed and Al stared in disbelief as she pulled the headset off and smiled.

"Vind, I didn't think-you-wow!" The younger brother turned a bright pink from being caught so unaware. He kcicked Edward under the table. "And stop calling her Riza, that's so weird!"

"Probably not as weird as calling people in real life their in-game names," Riza commented airily, dark eyes sparkling with warth. "It's nice to meet you face to face FullMetal. HolyNeko."

Al couldn't help but turn a brilliant shade of ruby red at this. What didn't help was the sudden uproar in vent of "Lucky, the brothers get to meet the guild leader in their area!" and "Is she hot?" and "Get me her number so I can text her random funny junk!" Coughing, Ed muted his speakers and turned back to her. "That's to be expected FullMetal. It's quite alright. Though I'd have to remind them it's a bit out of protocol to be harassing anyone for private information-"

"Eh? Who are you two guys talking to?" Winry had returned with a bottle of Nos and was chugging it. She burped and capped the orange lid back on. "Don't you know not to talk to strangers unless…ohhh are you getting a job interview from someone?" Riza chuckled and Al nearly fell out of his chair.

"No, Rockabella, but I'm surprised you don't recognize my voice." Winry went paper white and the bottle of Nos slipped from her hand. "V-v-vindicus?" Al was barely crawling back into his seat looking flushed and he kept his eyes purposely away from both Winry and Riza. "I didn't know-you-were-I had no-I'm so sorry I, uhhhhh…" She scrambled for the bottle, a slight pang of jealousy pricking her. Their leader was just as poised and beautifully dangerous in game as she was out of it and her heart twanged again as Al giggled. "No need to apologize Rockabella." The warm smile made Winry feel a tad bit better. "I heard about this from FullMetal and decided I might as well check it out even though I don't have any problems with connectivity-"

"Not like me and Ed do though!" Al blubbered and Winry smacked him in the back of the head with the Nos bottle, eyes glittering dangerously. The younger boy cried out reflexively grabbing the back of his head. "So you all live near each other too?" Their leader inquired, trying to keep an air of business like execution, but failing miserably. At this, Ed decided to spare Al the trouble of getting floored by a vengeance seeking Winry and answered for him- "Yeah me A-er, I mean Holy and Rocka have grown up together." And at this Edward say an inexplicable flash of sorrow, which made him wonder.

"Well, that's always a great thing." Riza tried to push her memories away but they crept along the side of her conscious, prowling uncomfortably close to her present state of mind. She had to half force a smile as she continued. "Growing up with people you trust when you game is always a nice thing to have, especially when you have to be gone for a bit and want someone you trust to keep up your characters."

A pause in the music from the speakers forewarned the making of a PA announcement. The four guild mates were instantly hushed as was more than half the café.

"Welcome all to Gamer's Café-I hope everyone is enjoying themselves so far," The warm, deep male voice that seemed to be coming from nowhere endued a collective roar of appreciation though the crowd. The tables were now being packed with laptops and ecstatic online gamers. "First of all on behalf of the management and staff here at Gamer's Café thank you for supporting our Grand Opening. Secondly, if you haven't gotten aquatinted with some of the staff here at GC now is as good a time as any-"

Throughout all this the older woman's face was turning whiter wand whiter and Edward, worriedly tapped her shoulder. "Riza you okay-?" she looked like she was going to be violently sick. She didn't answer as her attention was fixed, along with a lot of gamers, over to the stage in the center of the Café just to the left of the LCD screen. The PA speaker now emerged along with two other men. Edward felt a small flame of irritation curl in his belly. That ass hole who was snickering at me earlier!

"I would like to introduce Jean Havoc, our Tech Supervisor. He'll be here to address your needs and concerns with all gaming equipment and net usage," A roar of applause rose as Jean smiled and waved briefly. "Maes Huges, the Assistant Manager-"

"A pleasure to be sure and don't forget to sign my daughter's photo, she'd love to get to know you all!" Maes had briefly stole the mic and the audience half groaned, half laughed. The dark haired man who had yet to introduce himself pried the mic away and smiling confidently, finished, "and myself, Roy Mustang, the Manager of Gamer's Café." At this there was a storm of applause, whistling and catcalls, and while Riza looked like she was about to pass out, Edward gritted his teeth. _Roy Mustang, huh…perfect name for a smirking bastard. Show you not to laugh at me…._Roy waved to the crowd and for a startling moment Edward's golden eyes seething with vengeance locked onto glittering, purposely commanding black ones. The blond felt a stirring in his navel that wasn't entirely from anger or intimidation and he quickly broke contact, a stirring that felt like a fire of hate.

He really was beginning to hate how the day was turning out.

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So now in their own weird fall out of fate they've all, to a certain degree met. What happens next…well you'll have to see. –evilly laughs- Oh my…anyways run away while the writer maniacally laughs and drop me a review.

(1) Damage Dealers-any class known to deal a lot of damage in a short amount of time or who are most efficient at it. For example, Riza is a Sniper, a sort of archer class, so she is a DD.

(2) Mana-used up when casting a spell. DD's to damage effectively use a lot of spells/skills which eat up their mana.

(3) AOE (Area of Effect)-a skill/spell that reaches around the user in a certain radius around them. Usually highly destructive with negative hindering effect on enemy targets.


	4. Out Damaged

**Date my Avatar**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own FMA, its creator's, writers artists, plots nor the series The Guild or the song (Do You Want to Date My) Avatar, which is based off of said series. (They were merely an influence as I'm not drawing anything really from the series/song except well probably the song rofl) This is what happens when a plot bunny attacks you when you barely get on your feet again.

For all you gamers, you can relate to The Guild series perhaps and any gaming references. But at any rate, I'm going to always take the assumption that there isn't a lot of hard core gamers so a handy footnote section will be there for you.

All locals and their affiliated trademarks are not mine to own (so hahaha take that lawyers )

**Warnings: **Yaoi (male x male love, if it bothers you, press the back button), some gaming references that could get confusing to non-gamers or those who don't traverse MMO's much.

Thanks to everyone so far whose reviewed-keep the comments up and going. Lets me know what you like so far and don't like lol. BTW Word does epically fail and if it auto corrected something grammar wise I apologize for its fail. So I'll have to keep my eyes peeled and make sure it's not correcting something I don't mean it to :P

Sorry for the slightly slow update-had to eat ice cream to chase away the small case of writer's block. Hope it's not_ too_ obvious. I feel behind schedule already. –hits self- Might have to pull up the next chapter too….

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I'm craving to emote with you,

So many animations I can do…

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**Chapter 4:** Out Damaged

Regicide.

On the server, Centra l, exsisted the most powerful faction with an officer core that shook the pixel bodies of anyone around them, a core that was made up of the four close knitted friends. Hawkeye, a Sniper who had the highest Critical Hit ever recorded, Smokk ,a Cleric who was the worst enemy of any class, regardless of what they were, FreezeFrame, a Tank who could stun lock better than the Bladesmasher's who were more suited for the job and then the leader of it all was a Spellcaster, Ignition. Together they were notorious, not for being nice but being the most deadly PK core second to no one.

It was an accident, really, when a noob named MetaMail stumbled into their kingdom making path. He had been minding his own business, questing and killing mobs. Hawkeye had run out of ammo and she was in the midst of a very heavy gank. They happened to drag their battle right where Meta was questing. Panicking as three monsters fell upon him, he AOE and the resulting blow not only killed Hawkeye but all of her enemies, successfully ending the gank. They cursed at him in common then went to town but the Sniper laid there, inanimate, on the ground, HP bar empty while Ed, not knowing who she was on the server offered meekly to get his brother to res her.

**Hawkeye: It's fine Meta. I'm not mad.**

And she left a very confused noob behind as she went back to town as well.

But this wouldn't escape the notice of Regicide and especially not Ignition He, Hawkeye, Smokk and FreezeFrame were all playing the same room, as always. Out of boredom, he had leaned over and frowned , stormy as he saw the "Killed by MetaMail" message on her screen.

"Who the hell is that?"

"Just a random noob, Roy, nothing big."

"A noob killed you, Riza?" The contempt dripping from his voice made Riza bristle.

"It's not a big deal. Drop. It. Roy."

"If he bites and starts bragging in UC-!"

She was livid now as her fiend's voice got more venomous and overrully. Jean ad Maes looked up nervously from their screens, Maes losing his happy-go-lucky look.

"I don't even think he _knows_ what that_ is_, Roy." She gritted her teeth. Both Jean and Maes quickly went back to their PKing fest not wanting to get in between this newest spat between Roy and Riza. It was the third time this week and things looked like they were about to turn for the worst. Riza feverishly started typing much to Roy indignation. "And now you're PMing him giving him stuff? What the hell is your problem Riza? We won't have complete control on this sever and be the best if you're going to-"

"Roy-!" Riza had snapped, unplugging her laptop and getting up with her cords still attached and dragging on the floor, she snapped. "."

And she was gone, leaving Jean and Maes shell shocked, with Maes whimpering about not being able to get a picture of Riza with his girlfriend at the time and Jean sighing, not saying a word. Mustang merely watched her go, smokey eyes unreadable.

_You'll come back…_

But she never came back. Day after day the four that had become an uncomfortable thee had slowly started to fall apart. Riza had turned to the side of the not so noob player Metamail and she guided him with a strong steady hand. She became a vigilante PKKer (1) and Roy was getting sick of the more and more mutinous feelings of his Regicide members. Their feelings began to shift towards Riza and that Meta kid was becoming more and more confident.

He did everything he could to unsettle him. He tried to outdo Riza in gifts then scathingly PKed them back. This griefing began to bother Meta and as much as Riza tried to deter him from it. When the new server announcement went out she convinced the boy to come with her and be in a new faction.

The birth of Alchemist-she remembered it well.

And now it had all boiled down to a very bittersweet meeting-Ed and his crew the sweet and Roy's company being the very bitter. The crew of Gamer Café had disappeared from the stage and it started to make her nervous. She started to rise from the table, much to everyone else's surprise.

"Anyways…FullMetal, maybe we should-"

"Riza! Oh eeemmm geeeeee!"

Riza went clam white again as Maes slung an arm over her shoulder waving a picture of his daughter in her face. The stall, whether it was intentional or not, made Riza grind her teeth. _I can't meet him again…_

"Look, look, look, you can't say she's not adorable eh Riza?"

The woman found herself in a slight tangle of limbs with her old friend and she grumbled.

"Maes-"

Ed, Al and Winry watched as their guild leader struggling comically out of the taller mans arm lock. Hair frazzled, she smoothed out her clothes and gave him a bleary glare.

"Thank you for the display," She grabbed Al's and Ed's arms at the writs, tight lipped." But I really must get going-guild meeting-you know all that important stuff. FullMetal…Rockabella…" The two called got up at her beckoning and Al looked slightly annoyed at being forgotten. Maes looked crestfallen for a split second then beamingly interrupted "But Riza! You don't understand-! She would definitely like to get you to sign-!" Her eyes scanned the crowds and found a bobbing black haired form coming near the group. She wasn't the only one who noticed-Ed wrinkled his nose.

"What's going on here?"

The authoritarian snap made the entire group duck their older Elric was startled by the manager's voice, which didn't sound as amplified and annoyed from earlier and carried a certain weight to it that both flared his temper again and made him feel slightly awkward. On his chest flashed a tag that read "Gamer's Café Manager: Roy Mustang". Roy caught sight first of Riza, which when their eyes met, he quickly looked away, ignoring Maes happy cries of "Oh joy, a reunion!", gaze shifting around until he feel upon the short blond. He smirked slightly with something of a predatory gleam and Ed shivered.

"Hey, creepy manager. Move along and look at someone else." His honey eyes narrowed dangerously and the smirk only widened.

"Well, everyone else here isn't as short as you-"

"Who do you think you're calling so short he-!"

Winry who had been stuck in a dazzled trance of dreaded shock smacked Ed in the back of the head with a metal cup. With a strangled cry he reflexively clamped the throbbing part of his head. "Where the hell are you getting those?" By this time, Jean had joined the confusion trying to get Roy's attention about some latency with the game news screen. After a third failed attempt he moved away quietly to work on the bug himself as Roy tsk'd in disproval at the shrimpy boy's raving temper. With the abuse of metal against his head again, Ed couldn't manage more than a collection of snarls and foot stomping, which was comical but made Al wish he wasn't related to him. Roy was positively glowing with smugness and Riza eyed him silently ignoring the blabbering Maes, who was requesting a group picture and asking if Riza was going to apply for a job. The three teens began to scoot away from the raving reunion but the only thing that mattered was the world that revolved around flames and a red faced, raging blond.

_I think I've finally found you in the real world…_

_And I like what I see._

(((((((((((((((((((((((((((

"Well, that was…interesting." Al commented to a rather put out Ed, who was lying on his back with his laptop nestled between his belly and legs drawn up in a makeshift table. Ed ignored the new mewling sound coming from Al's lap as his younger brother tried to hush a hidden kitten under his laptop. "Al can you put that thing in your room? Just don't put any milk in there along with it." Stunned Al got up and took care of his latest companion while Ed sat there listlessly listening to Riza on Vent. _She doesn't seem like herself either…._Ed realized dully as he went though restlessly organizing his inventory for the fifth time since he longed on. While he was pretty thrilled at finally meeting his guild leader(and Al seemed particularly enthusiastic, now that he thought about it), Bastard Manager Roy Mustang party crashed the meeting. But at the mention of the Omega Beasts he struggled to sit up, plopping himself onto the couch.

"Wait, Omega Beasts?" Ed winced as his hand touched the hotter part of his laptop onto his leg. Riza confirmed Ed's question just as Al had returned, opening his mouth to complain about his computer being moved but Ed shushed him, hissing "OBs!" Al's eyes widened and he obediently went quiet as Riza's voice began to normalize.

"Yes, Omega Beasts. With the new expansion they have finally opened them up as actual killable creatures. They no longer are the invincible, immune to damage god monsters you have to steer around. But they are still highly dangerous, powerful and with invaluable drops to boot." Ed smiled slightly as he heard her voice becoming more and more enthusiastic. _But still…I wonder what really is between her and the guy who work at the Gamer's Café…? They seemed to have known each other, and it seems for a while. She wasn't too enthusiastic about it though so…_ "The only OB that was available was Envy, but Gluttony, Lust, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, and Pride have been added and are now killable. I have had some…experience...with Envy but as to the rest I am just in the dark as everyone else-"

"So wait, are we actually going to…?"

"Do you think we're strong enough Vindy?"

"I just barely got all my new high-grade gear yesterday and I say I'm itching to try it out on the new OB's, so let's go do them!"

Al and Ed looked at each other; one slightly worried, the other surging with initiative. Al didn't like the look Ed was getting and upstairs there was the sound of scratching against wood and a small yeowling sound.

"We can do these Al! Let's try one!"

"Brother, aren't you being a bit reckless? Only one that Vind-er I mean, Riza, knows how to do is Envy. The other ones we have no clue about. A ton of people could get killed. Multiple times." Ed raised and eyebrow not willing to let his younger brother glaze over his now switch form calling the leader Vind to Riza, but Al bowled him over. "I mean a lot of our heavy damage dealing classes and the ones that can debuff these things are very squishie. They'll start dropping like flies-"

"This is why we have people like you out there, Al." Ed was ignoring the uproar in Vent and he patted his unconvinced sibling on the shoulder. "You're one of our many healers-on of our best. Don't tell me you won't try them-at least one if you don't like the idea."

Al sighed. Why did he let Ed talk him into this kind of craziness?

"Alright…"

The grin made him wince.

_I hope these OB's are worth the trouble…_

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"The Alchemists are doing OB's as a faction hmm?"

Roy gazed as his screen, leaning back leisurely in his computer chair. The cushions sighed and sank as he shifted his weight upwards and the creak reminded him he needed to get a new chair.

"This should be interesting…"Roy looked over to Jean's and Maes' screens with slight boredom. "Any luck with figuring out which one they're going to first?" Maes shook his head, a rather stern expression crossed with thought caught in the glow of his screen. "Not much is being said in faction chat at the moment-I think their meeting is mostly vent, which I can't access."

"Why?" Roy crossly replied, reaching for some coffee. Hughes shook his head. "They do Vent interviews and Riza would have known it was me…so I had to tell them I couldn't download it and that I don't have a working mic. They don't give vent info to people who can't even use it." The manager grumbled, choking a bit from drinking too fast. "Sorry, Mustang…"

"Don't you think this is just borderline creepy that you're stalking her in-game like this?" Jean asked quietly, watching his own screen as Maes typed in the Alchemists chat, asking about when and which OB they were doing. Vindicus quickly replied that they were still working out the details. Jean typed in a swirly eye emote and looked at Roy. "You send our alts in there to figure out what's going on and then you expect her to be all buddy buddy because you know her every movement? She didn't want to see us-"

"Actually I think it's more of she didn't want to see _him_," Maes jerked his head at Roy as the scowl deepened on the manager's face. "No offense." Jean looked a bit depressed and didn't reply. Roy growled and crackled his knuckles. Maes quickly went back to work on trying to get information and Roy turned around in his chair. Yes, he was still sore over seeing her go and he had a strong affection for her like a sister but it wasn't her that he intended to stalk so closely.

No it was who she shielded from him with a mother like protection that caught and held his interest.

_Perhaps it's because she knows how I really am…_

Roy felt a mischievous grin tug at the corner of his as he saw FullMetal run by him. That temper of FullMetal's…that should have been Pyro's trademark, even though Roy always carried himself as coolly aloof. It intrigued him and wouldn't leave him alone. While the fit earlier that day amused him to no end, it was the pre fit, the golden fire and the offhand remark, that made the virtual confines so much more trying on Roy's nerves.

_I want to set you off again and see you ragequit_ (2)…

"Lust."

Roy dragged himself back to reality.

"What?"

"They're going to go kill the OB Lust." Maes repeated looking up at Roy. Smokey eyes narrowed, glittering with a new air of excitement. "And they'll be heading out in five minutes-"

"Thank you Maes," The man turned back around, scooted in and laid his fingers with old practiced habit across the keys.

_I'll find the perfect way to set you off…_

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"Down by half guys, we're doing great!" Ed shoo'd away two kittens that were pawing at his socks with one toe and Al whimpered a "Brother, think of the kittens!" which was easily ignored. The light show of skills on the huge monster was making his eyes hurt and they were fifteen minutes into the fight.

"Scouts, I want a status check to see if there is anyone around the area." Riza barked into the mic.

"Airs are clear."

"Ground radius-clear."

"See Al? Wasn't too bad eh?" Ed quickly glanced over to his brother, who looked slightly pale and he laughed at his deathly serious look. He was grumbling something that suspiciously sounded like 'I have a bad feeling about this' and the older Elric smiled. "Don't stiffen your fingers up like that, you'll get cramps. You're doing just fine-"

Suddenly a yelp over vent made the Elric brothers wince. The two kittens yowled and darted under the couch.

"I just got killed out of nowhere!"

"Same here!"

_The scouts…?_

"What?" Their leader sounded instantly worried and slightly screechy. "Who killed you? Where did they come from-!"

"I-I don't know Vindy!"

"I'm sorry I didn't see-"

"Incoming!"

Ed cursed under his breath as he saw a pillar of fire snake though the back row of guild members.

_Pyro…_

"Brother! Brother what do we do-I-we're gonna die! You're the tank and I-I…I-!" Al was starting to get panicky as he saw two Snipers circling the air and picking people off one by one. Ed groaned as they began to attack the higher level members of the guild.

"Shit!" Ed swore loudly as Vindicus went down by a fatal gank. This was all going horribly wrong and the only ones left standing…

_Are me and Al…_

"Al, pull up your Squad Search and click on these bastards-sorry, Al," Al wrinkled his nose at his older brother's language. "Pull it up and right click…they're above us-"

"But they're not moving…" Al muttered in confusion and then it struck Ed why. The boss was down to its last few hits and if Pyro outdamaged him…

"They'll KS(3) us!"

The younger Elric paled.

"Didn't we do more than fifty percent damage though…?"

Ed gritted his teeth. "Yes-but all the damage dealt was dealt in different squads. Our highest damage dealing squad was already wiped out by Pyro. Its reset the entire thing, and since I have agro (4) it's now us versus them…" _And we can't win that fight._ Al groaned and muttered 'I told you this was a bad idea' as Ed watched the skies.

_They're just waiting there, taunting us…_

Seconds ticked by as Lust's Hp was drained slowly-

They struck.

Snipers dove out of the air and Al cried out as they attacked him and killed him. Ed swore a colorful line that his younger brother tried to ignore as the whole vent channel continued to blow up in confusion with choruses of "Go, go, go FullMetal." "Awwww what the hell man, what's their problem?" "I swear if they make me loose exp after I get a res, I will kill them!" and above all Ed could hear Riza's voice faintly. "You did your best FullMetal, but there's something I think I need to-"

But it was cut off as Ed saw his character fall in a hurricane of flames, and as the boss dropped, Ed felt a stinging prickle at his eyes.

_I'm not gonna cry over a stupid game, I'm not gonna…gonna…_

**Pyrolysis: Not a bad tank-for a short, cute blonde ;)**

Ed's vision blurred as the flames licked the screen again. Al reached out hesitantly touching his shoulder but Ed jerked away, pushing his laptop away and running up the stairs. The younger Elric winced as he heard the slam of the bedroom door.

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Kind of a hard chapter to work though as I had some very icky in-game stuff I was dealing with. Certainly have some material to work with though so I can vent my frustrations –laughs-

Anyways, read, rate review etc.

(1) PKKer-Player Killer Killer-someone who PKs other people who PK people only.

(2) Ragequit-Quiting on something in the game or just entirely on the game in a fit/rage/ out of annoyance. Usually its for a very stupid reason, hence why ragequits (or RQ's) are laughed at.

(3)KS-Kill Stealing, which is a common occurrence in MMO's. The mechanics of various games as to who gets a monster kill varies, but a KSer is someone who "steals" a kill by out damaging another party, making the rewards go to them rather than the person(s) originally killing it.

(4) Agro-having the most attention from a monster, also sometimes referred to as "threat level". The person who has the highest "threat level" to a monster has the most generated "agro".


End file.
